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This page contains one opinion/comment by the executive editor of The Daily Star, a major newspaper in Beirut, Lebanon. Click here to view other comments from other newspapers. War, terror, and the clarity of trends March 23, 2003 BEIRUT: As reliable survey evidence continues to emerge from the Arab world showing continued deterioration in Arab perceptions of the United States due to Washington’s policies in this region, we should brace for some rough days ahead in the wake of President George W. Bush’s ultimatum for Saddam Hussein and his sons to leave Iraq. While it is difficult to predict precise Arab reactions to an American-led attack on Iraq, it is easier to come to grips with some of the underlying trends that define this area and its troubled relations with the US. Two points stand out in the results of the survey of public opinion in five Arab countries in the past month that was designed and sponsored by Shibley Telhami of the University of Maryland and conducted by respected pollsters Zogby International (results can be seen at http://bsos.umd.edu/sadat/me_survey.htm). The first, according to the results from Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Jordan, is that most respondents’ negative views of the US were based mainly on US policies, not on American or Arab values. This is significant as it confirms yet again that anti-American sentiments in the Middle East are largely a reaction to American policies seen as anti-Arab, or biased toward Israel. The good news is that this tension can be relieved by a policy revision that would see Washington, for example, play a more even-handed role in the Arab-Israeli conflict, promote democratic rather than authoritarian Arab governance, and rely less on unilateral militarism in dealing with this area’s problems. The second point I found important though worrying was the very high expectation that an American-led war against Iraq would lead to more terrorism. More than three out of every four respondents in every country polled held this view (they reached a high of 96 percent in Saudi Arabia, and a low of 75 percent in Egypt). The frightening aspect of this is what it reveals about the perception and sentiments of the average Arab man and woman, who now sees terror as a relatively normal part of the political landscape. This is visible in other ways as well, especially the widespread lack of condemnation of terror by Arabs when it is used by Arabs against others. Lack of condemnation is not the same thing as active support or approval. The fact is that most Arabs feel so abused and aggrieved by their condition at the hands of their own political regimes, Israel and the US that they have now adapted to the terror around them as a routine policy response. Most Arabs clearly see terror as morally wrong, but now they seem also to see it as politically inevitable. This is largely a consequence of the continuing legacy of injustice and oppression that most Arabs would see as defining their modern lives. An American-led war will make this situation much worse. The continuing collapse of trust and rational communication between the Arab world and the US government has been severely accelerated by American policies since Sept. 11, 2001. Recent policy has largely heightened Arab perceptions that the US would use its might to serve its own interests, without working within a global context that gave equal value to the concerns and rights of others. Bush and his advisers seem to have squandered a rare opportunity to lead a truly global “war on terror” that would be enthusiastically supported by the whole world. Instead, we witness the spectacle of the US almost single-handedly defying the world and pushing ahead with war against Iraq. The poll clarifies the precise cause-and-effect of such policy decisions. The US has the power and the will to change any government in the world and attack and defeat any country, but such actions come at a cost. That cost has been clear in the Arab world for some years: strong anti-Americanism, including terror. In the past few months we’ve seen most of the rest of the world express similar objections to the substance and style of American foreign policy. This will not deter Bush from his course of action, but the likelihood is that war in Iraq will come at a considerable political and material cost to the US, as this and other polls confirm with a clarity that is as thick as a prime rib Texas steak. Rami G. Khouri is the executive editor of The Daily Star | Return Home | About Us | What's New | Urgent Action | Getting Involved | Great Links | Articles | Contact Us | |
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